Don’t wait for an open house

I get calls from people who want to see houses and they ask me when the next open house is going to be. Many of the homes on the market never have an open house. There is no evidence that open houses are needed to sell houses. There are two reasons for having an open house:

1. The homeowner believes that open houses are needed and they see having one as proof that their agent is working to sell their house.

2. Real estate agents need to do open houses so they can meet prospective home buyers and sellers.

Open houses can be a lot of fun for people who want to go to them and for people who want to have them. Everyone has a story about someone they know who went into an open house and bought the home on the spot. We have no way of knowing if they would have purchased the very same home just because there was an open house or if there was some other reason too.

The internet has really changed the home buying process. Going to open houses can be helpful but we can see pictures of houses for sale without ever leaving our homes. Serious home buyers don’t wait for an open house. They want to see the home as soon as possible and most want a private showing with their own real estate agent. They will go ahead and make an offer on a Wednesday so that by the time there is an open house there is an offer on the home.

Sellers who believe the having open houses is more important than having professional photos might be surprised to learn that thousands of people will view photos of homes for sale and those photos will attract more buyers than having several open houses. Studies show that high quality commercial photography results in higher sale prices whereas open houses result in more clients for the real estate agent holding the open if anyone shows up.

The home in the picture sold in less than a week and the people who bought it went and saw the home in person after it had been on the market for 3 days.